1. Field of the Invention
The present invention described in this specification relates to a maintenance technology for a discharging head in which multiple droplet discharging portions are arranged in line, and more particularly, to a maintenance technology suited to remove foreign substances and bubbles from discharging portions and a liquid channel. The present invention has aspects as a maintenance method for a discharging head, a maintenance device for a discharging head, a droplet discharging apparatus, and a computer program.
2. Description of the Related Art
A description will now be given of the related art in which fluid to be discharged is ink, that is, a droplet discharging apparatus is an inkjet printer.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic views of one discharging portion in an inkjet head serving as a device for discharging ink droplets.
FIG. 1A is a sectional side view of a discharging portion 1, and FIG. 1B is a schematic view of the discharging portion 1, as viewed in a discharging direction of an ink droplet 3 (a nozzle sheet 5 is removed so that the contents can be viewed easily). The ink droplet 3 is discharged from a discharging port (hereinafter also referred to as a nozzle) 7 by generating a bubble 11 by heat from a heater 9 provided below the nozzle 7. A liquid chamber 13 is surrounded by a partition 15.
FIG. 2 is a structural view of an inkjet head 21 in which a plurality of discharging portions 1 are arranged in line, as viewed in the discharging direction of ink droplets 3. In FIG. 2, the nozzle sheet 5 is also not shown.
A foreign substance 23 and a bubble 25 sometimes enter the nozzle 7 and the liquid chamber 13, as shown in FIG. 3. The foreign substance 23 and the bubble 25 adversely affect the operation of discharging ink droplets, and cause curved discharging and undischarging.